Counter-top electric cookers or ovens are known in the art. In comparison to conventional ovens, counter-top cookers offer the advantage of being less bulky and having quicker cooking times. Typically, the counter-top cookers include a power head having an electric heating unit that generates heat in the cooking enclosure. To reduce the cooking time, counter-top cookers typically will rely on a hot air stream that is produced by a high speed fan provided in the power head upstream of an electric heating element, or by utilizing an infrared heating element in combination with a relatively low speed fan that generates sufficient air circulation in the oven to cook the food.
In types of cooking such as roasting or broiling, it is desirable to expose the food item to direct radiant heat to obtain even cooking and color. To achieve this result, it is necessary in the known counter-top cooker to rotate the food items periodically, so that they are exposed to the heating element in the power head at the top of the cooker. Also, while the known counter-top cookers do cook faster than conventional ovens, the cooking time is still considered by some to be long enough that it does not act as an incentive to purchase the counter-top cookers.